There are various instances where a simple reliable and low cost method of dewatering is desirable. Examples include dewatering sludge, drying flooded ground, and extraction of salt from salt solutions, mineral and material collection.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,564 by General American Transportation Corporation discloses a sludge dewatering apparatus using a wicking material. The device however requires a complex belt and surrounding structure with considerable power input to dry the process.
Wicking materials have also been used effectively in other applications, such as clothing where it is used as an inner layer with outer layers of other material for wicking moisture away from the body to the outer layers. U.S. Pat. No. 7,721,349 by Strauss and U.S. Pat. No. 6,855,410 by Buckley are two examples of complex materials for clothing, however there are no suggested modifications or apparent benefits in applying wicking material to other applications.
Other beneficial materials are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,230, however in this instance the fabric material is used as an insulator, not for wicking. A metallic surface is used only for heat retention.
Use of sheeted material for assisting evaporation from a wet source by increasing the surface area of the source is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,166,188 by Kedem et al and also in a published article entitled WAIV—wind aided intensified evaporation for reduction of desalination brine volume by J. Gilron, Y. Folkman, R. Savliev, M. Waisman, and O. Kedem, Desalination 158 (2003), pp. 205-214, Elsevier Science B.V. The proposed evaporation method requires the use of complex structure to pump the liquid to an overhead tank where the sheeted material is wetted so that gravity assists in transferring the liquid downwardly across the surfaces of the sheeted material. The structure is unsuitable for use across an existing settling pond and is inefficient due to the pumping requirements.